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Ron Thornton
founder Paul Bryant]] Ron Thornton is a British-born cinematographer and was a key member of the visual effects company Foundation Imaging. He worked on a number of Star Trek productions. Much of Ron Thornton's early visual effects career was spent working with miniatures and motion-control technology, on British television series such as Doctor Who, Blake's 7 and The Tripods, prior to his move to America, where he initially worked on Babylon 5 adopting CGI techniques that he would later bring to Star Trek. He remembered, "The reason I got into CGI work in the first place is purely because the limitations of motion control suddenly disappeared." Thornton went on to say that he specifically meant the limitations of shooting models. Thornton was also attracted to animating such CG creations as Species 8472 for Star Trek: Voyager. Regarding the task of giving a performance to such a being, he noted, "That's something I love to do." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #16, pp. 36 & 37) Ron Thornton was instrumental in the changeover of Foundation Imaging from Babylon 5 to Star Trek. He recalled, "It was only ''after Babylon 5 decided not to renew us that I turned around to them [meaning Star Trek: Voyager s producers] and basically begged for work. We were in such dire straits; I had to lay everybody off–and I never thought that was going to happen–but Voyager was really wonderful and started coming in with stuff." Thornton also said, "''When ''Babylon 5 decided they were going to do it on their own, it was absolutely devastating, but it ended up being the best thing that ever happened to me." Thornton was so eager to work on ''Star Trek that he would have liked Foundation Imaging to be given more work on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine than they ultimately were. "I would love to do more work on the show," Thornton said, during the sixth season of the series, "but it's very much up to the supervisor." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #16, pp. 35, 38 & 39) Credits * ** (20 May 1996) - visual effects producer ** (25 September 1996) - visual effects producer ** (6 November 1996) - visual effects producer ** (13 November 1996) - visual effects producer ** (12 February 1997) - visual effects producer ** (21 May 1997) - visual effects producer ** (3 September 1997) - visual effects producer ** (5 November 1997) - visual effects producer ** (12 November 1997) - visual effects producer ** (18 February 1998) - visual effects producer ** (18 November 1998) - visual effects producer ** (17 February 1999) - visual effects producer ** (19 May 1999) - visual effects producer ** (26 May 1999) - visual effects producer ** (10 November 1999) - visual effects producer ** (1 March 2000) - visual effects producer ** (29 November 2000) - visual effects producer ** (17 January 2001) - visual effects producer ** (23 May 2001) - visual effects producer * (2001) - visual effects producer * (2002) - additional 3D matte elements * ** (26 September 2001) - visual effects producer ** (24 October 2001) - visual effects producer ** (7 November 2001) - visual effects producer ** (9 October 2002) - visual effects producer ** (30 October 2002) - visual effects producer ** (13 November 2002) - visual effects producer ** (11 December 2002) - visual effects producer External links * es:Ron Thornton Category:Special and Visual effects staff